Elephant Dreams

After being delayed 4 weeks, Dane and I finally got to go on our trip to Livingstone, Zambia to go on safari!! Normally some New Day staff goes with volunteers on this trip but unfortunately, Precious had to be taken to the hospital in Lusaka last week because she is still needing some more tests to figure out exactly what is wrong with her so Wes and Laurie were unable to accompany us. We were pretty bummed (and they were too because they were looking forward to the much needed get-a-way) but we were glad that they were able to get Precious to the better medical facilities. She is still there, undiagnosed so please keep praying that the doctors would figure out how to make her better.

So, Dane and I got dropped off at the bus station in Choma on Thursday and waited for our bus for 3 hours. When it finally came, we realized we had a bus with no air conditioning and the only seats we could find were in the very back row, crammed in between 2 people on each side. It was not the most fun 2-hour bus ride of my life. But alas, we made it to Livingstone and got picked up at the bus station by our hotel and taken to our air conditioned "chalet" which is actually just what they call a cute little cottage with one bedroom and a bathroom. But the a/c made it AMAZING! That night we had the hotel book us a Sunset dinner cruise thinking it would be a nice, relaxing, romantic way to start off our little vacation. A few hours later we were picked up and taken to this really beautiful, way-out-of-our-budget resort the boat was departing from. Our hotel man had told us he was booking us the more "social" cruise that he assured us we would like more than the others. Well it turns out, it was basically just a booze-cruise which wasn't really what we were hoping for. Nonetheless, we had a good time cruising around and getting to see the Zambezi River, some hippos, a big croc that came right up to our boat, and the pretty sunset. We also met some interesting characters on the boat so it turned out alright. And then we went back to our air conditioned (how many times can I mention how great that is?) room and had a great night's sleep with no spiders on the walls under our nice little bug net :)

The next morning we woke up early and headed to Botswana for our SAFARI!! It was quite a drive to the border and then we had to go across the border and then were taken in a speedboat across the river to Botswana where our safari company was waiting to pick us up. We ended up having to wait on the bank with about 7 other people because our safari company had some sort of confusion on who was supposed to go in what group (a little frustrating to start out such an exciting day that way) but they finally got it figured out and ended up separating Dane and I from the group. We had another 30 minutes drive through a few small towns in Botswana and to a SUPER nice resort/lodge where our tour was to begin. After a few minutes of waiting in confusion, the rest of our group showed up and we loaded the boat. Ah, finally!
The boat was our favorite part by far. It lasted for about 2 hours and took us all around the river. We saw a bunch of hippos, cape buffalo, a few crocs, lots of different birds, some different types of antelope and...da da daaaa- ELEPHANTS!!! So many elephants. I was on cloud 9. We got SO close. I seriously had to restrain myself from just wanting to jump out of the boat and run the 20 feet (sometimes less) that separated us from them and just hang on their massive legs! I mean, they just looked so peaceful and clam, I just couldn't see them getting all aggressive and stomping anyone like everyone had warned they might do if you get too close. So guess what...I did it!

...just kidding ;) I wish. But really, I have been saying "all I want is to see just one elephant on our safari" since we decided it would be a real option to go on one. And the second thing that hit me when we officially decided to come to New Day, after tears of joy, excitement and thankfulness for an amazing opportunity was, I must admit, the thought that I might get to see an elephant! They are my favorite animal and one of God's creations that just baffles me. So when we saw just shy of 100 of them and when they walked not twenty feet from our boat and when I got to watch mothers and babies playing in the water and spraying themselves with their trunks, well I was just slightly ridiculously excited! They were huge, majestic, beautiful, playful, powerful and enticing. Every time we would have to drive away to go see some other animal (psh) they guide would say "okay, everyone ready to move on" and every time I would think, "um, NO!!" I could have sat and watched them all day long. I felt as though I was living in an elephant dream and I did not want to wake up :) It was just amazing.

After about 2 hours in the boat we went back to the lodge for the most amazing meal I have had in 3 months. The lodge was sooo nice and so fancy. We had a buffet with so many different yummy choices of food and what seemed like any sauce you could think of. The desert bar had fruit, chocolate yumminess and ice cream! Zambia doesn't really do ice cream since it's always like a million degrees so that was a real treat. The last half of the day was spent driving around the game park in the safari vehicles. We saw lots more elephants, hippos, warthogs, baboons, and at the end some giraffes! They were really cool. And goofy. We learned that their spots get darker as they get older- fun fact!

While in Livingstone we also got to go to the croc farm (Dane's choice but I actually enjoyed it a lot too) and saw an 80-year old, giant crocodile and could inhale me in a second. They were feeding them that day too (they can go 6 months without being fed) so that was pretty cool to watch them. We also went to Victoria Falls, one of the 7 wonders of the world. This is the time of the year that the water levels are really low so there actually wasn't much water at all but it was still beautiful to hike all around the park (basically through a jungle) and see the huge ravine where the water usually is. There were still some falls too so it was really pretty. We also ate at this delicious Indian restaurant, went to a grocery store that looked almost like at home (yep that's exciting here lol) and went to the market to haggle with the merchants! We got some pretty cool stuff and may or may not have picked up a few Christmas presents ;) We had a really good time. It was a super nice and fun vacation and a great time for us to just enjoy each other and enjoy this adventure God has blessed us with. It feels pretty crazy that we get to do something like this so early in our lives and marriage- we are really thankful. We also really did love the place we stayed at, the Green Tree Lodge. Yes, first of all because it had air conditioning but also the owner was really nice. He was a British man (yes he said things like "it's a bloody hot day" hehe) and just so helpful. On our last night there, his wife told us it was his birthday and invited us to a bbq that night. We went and had such a great time! They had  tons of good food and we just sat out on the patio at the hotel by the pool talking with them and a few other guests they had. Then they brought out cake an champagne! It was just really cool getting to hang out and be included in that. And the conversation was really interesting too because he was from Britain, his wife is Zambian, and another guest was from Germany and had lived everywhere so we heard some fun stories for sure! That's one of my favorite things about traveling. You get to meet so many different types of people and have conversations with someone you would probably never get to know otherwise.
Anyways, it was a great trip and here a just a few snapshots of what we saw! We are having real issues finding internet that works (even in an internet café I went to on Monday) especially now that we don't have our laptop so this is all I was able to get to load. I will add many more maybe when we get back to the states in case you want to check back then. We actually will be boarding a plane home three weeks from today!